“Al Azhar has republished the book titled Broad Outlines of the Shi’a Religion. The first edition of the book was issued more than 60 years ago. In the introduction Dr. Mohammed Amara stresses that the Shi’as are not a (Muslim) sect but a religion. That the followers of that Shi’a religion allied with the Crusaders and Holagu (the Mongol) and American Imperialism and Zionist Christianity against Muslims……… The book compares Shiism and Communism and how the Shi’as have distorted the unchangeable history……. The book also details the history of the relationship between the Magis (he calls Zoroastrians ‘Magis’ but some extreme Wahhabis also use it for Shi’as) (Shi’as) and Jews and Communism…………..”

It reads almost like the fake Tsarist Okhrana-produced Protocols of the Elders of Zion(it would beElders of Shi’ashere). Many Salafis and their ilk as well as quite a few Arab quasi-liberals seriously believe in it. Most of them, especially some Al Azhar shaikhs, need to read some world history, especially the chronology of events.Egyptian regime clerics are now much more outspoken about the sectarian divide than most other Sunni or Wahhabi clerics. They are now more extremely sectarian than even the Wahhabi clerics in Saudi Arabia. ‘More royal the the king‘ and his men, as the saying goes. The leadership of Saudi clergy are relatively more soft-spoken than many Egyptian clerics on this issue nowadays. At least publicly.

The Egyptians were supposedly allegedly once among the most tolerant of Muslims, but not anymore. Now many of them are deep into religious quasi-Nazi doctrine. It goes beyond the traditional wild groups like ISIS and Al Nusra and Army of Islamic Conquest and other militia cutthroats of all Muslim sects. Is it any wonder some Iraqis, especially Sunni Kurds, are reported in some Western media to be converting back to Zoroastrianism, to become Magi or Majus?Years ago we used to joke on the shores of my Gulf that the USA and the Russians (Soviets) were exploring outer space for the sole purpose of leaving this Earth behind, abandoning it for us Muslims. That they just wanted to “get out of Dodge“, get away from us and our silliness and stupidity. Oh but it is a worthy cause………

February 2014: “”Gravity” is just a film. Imagine a similar real-life scenario: Would there be any chance of survival? That’s a concern for the General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments, or GAIAE, the United Arab Emirates’ religious watchdog, for anyone who wishes to travel to Mars. The GAIAE has issued a fatwa, or an official Islamic ruling, to warn Muslims against a Mars mission…………”

July 2014: “To date, there have been 41 past missions to the red planet, many of them from established space agencies, and only 16 have been a total success. To ensure that the UAE’s mission achieves its goal, the country’s newly established space agency will have to draw upon the lessons of previous attempts, as well as coordinate closely with international parties to ensure there is no room for failure. “The majority of things we’ve sent to Mars have failed,” said commander Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut who was in the Emirates last week to meet officials from the country’snascent space agency…………….”

Why not? There are rumors that the Bin Zayed Al-Nahayn Brothers who own Abu Dhabi and rule the UAE are planning a vacation getaway for the family on the Red Planet. Just rumors. Some people I know claim, rather hopefully, that the brothers may be planning to emigrate to Mars. Some would have preferred for them to opt for one of the Jovian planets like Jupiter or Uranus. Oh well……

So what have we here? A United Arab Emirates of Disneyland. A continuation into outer space of a trend toward phony culture and science (and politics). Fake Sorbonne. Fake New York University. Fake MIT. All the curricula ‘adjusted’ and watered down to account for ‘local culture’: you figure out what that means. Fake Louvre. Fake Vatican and Fake Kaaba (stay tuned)? Fake Army (imported veteran mercenaries). Fake population (7 million temporary foreigners out of a total population of 8 million). But not all of it is entertaining.And now? The ultimate in scientific fakery: a fake Mission to Mars. No research and no technological advancement needed, all bought and paid for. It is like when you buy a Boeing airplane: you own the airplane, but you do not acquire the technology (well, you learn how to fly the jet and flush the toilet).

Now what is there they can get that NASA (and maybe others) have not got? Unless they plan to rename a mountain or a famous waterway on Mars after the UAE rulers.

Neck of the woods“THE sun is a tempestuous mistress – and her out¬bursts are becoming more and more violent as the weeks go on. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory spotted the summer’s first ‘X’ solar flare last Friday – a huge outburst from the sun right at the top of the scale. This came on the back of 12 ‘M’ flares in just six days, with a M6.1 flare knocking out radio signals across the planet last week – hinting at the destruc¬tion the sun could reign on our technology if Earth takes a full blast across its blow.
The sunspot group behind the flares – named as AR1515 – stretches across 191,000km of the sun’s surface. This makes its width more than 15 Earths set end to end, said NASA solar astrophysicist C. Alex Young. The biggest flares are known as “X-class flares” based on a classification system that divides solar flares according to their strength. The smallest ones are A-class, which are similar to normal background levels, followed by B, C, M and X. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output, meaning an X is 10 times an M and 100 times a C. The sun is now heading into the peak of its 11- year solar flare cycle, with 2013 expected to the tu¬multuous year.
With the increased spread in communications in the last 11 years, a severe solar storm could cause huge issues for the planet. Radio blackouts occur when the X-rays or ex¬treme UV light from a flare disturb the layer of Earth’s atmosphere known as the ionosphere, through which radio waves travel.
The constant changes in the ionosphere change the paths of the radio waves as they move, thus de¬grading theinformation they carry…………..”

“Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On a-Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me……..” Frank Sinatra (Fly Me to the Moon)

“Crown Prince Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, left the Kingdom on a private vacation from the Riyadh Airbase yesterday. A Royal Court statement wished crown prince a safe journey and vacation in a statement carried by the SPA. Those who saw off the crown prince at the airbase included Riyadh Gov. Prince Sattam, Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmad, Riyadh Deputy Gov. Prince Muhammad bin Saad, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities Prince Sultan bin Salman, Assistant Interior Minister for Security Affairs Prince Muhammad bin Naif and several other ministers. The crown prince is accompanied by Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Naif and Prince Fahd bin Naif…………”

I have never read a news brief like this one. Imagine the BBC reporting that “Chuck the Prince of Wales and a gaggle of his kin and retainers have left the country for somewhere”. Is it possible that Prince Naif is planning to hike the Appalachian Trail? Will he end up in Buenos Aires, Argentina? Will he fly to the moon via a joint in Amsterdam? Cheers
mhg

““Il n’est pas possible de donner une date pour la réalisation de ce projet. Dès que nos scientifiques annonceront qu’ils sont prêts, nous le ferons savoir”, a déclaré le responsable de l’organisation spatiale iranienne, Hamid Fazeli, cité par le site internet de la télévision d’Etat. Hamid Fazeli n’a pas donné d’explication sur l’ajournement de ce projet. Le responsable avait annoncé en juin que l’Iran allait envoyer un singe dans l’espace en août, à bord d’une capsule de 285 kilos portée par une fusée Kavoshghar-5, dernière version du lanceur déjà utilisé en 2010 pour envoyer dans l’espace une petite capsule contenant un rat, des tortues et des insects…………” Sending one a monkey into space is only bound by technical issues, and maybe some simian-itarian (as in human-itarian) considerations. Now sending a human requires other considerations, especially for the Iranians. I recall when NASA sent a Saudi prince into space with one of its teams he returned professing puzzlement about one main issue: he could not tell which way to face for prayer; he could not tell where Mecca was located from space. I would not have had any problem locating where Mecca was: it is exactly where it has always been, on the big blue marble. Even a spaced out prince should be able to see that.Now the Iranians may face another thorny issue as well, in addition to the Mecca direction. Will they or will they not send a cleric, a mullah, out into space (with the human astronaut)? In that case, why not train a cleric for the mission and launch him?Then there will be the thorny issue of the cleric being accused, like that Saudi prince, of being spaced out.Cheers
mhg

“Saudi Arabia is making steady progress in space science and technology, said Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) and a member of the Association of Space Explorers. “The Saudi government is keen on developing science and technology…and it understands the role of space science in boosting the Kingdom’s development,” he said in a statement after attending the association’s 24th annual conference in Moscow. He said the Kingdom has left no stone unturned in promoting scientific research and encouraging scientists. “We were the main founders of the Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat),” the prince said. Saudi Arabia is the largest information technology market in the region…………….”

Association of Space Explorers: great, the kind of thing I loved when I was a high school student. Yet I suspect space is looked at now as the place where satellites orbit and provide us with a lot of entertainment television channels. That was originally supposed to be a by-product of a loftier goal, wtf it was.
Yes, science is important and they should stress it. Speaking of which: they need to improve their teaching of astronomy, especially after the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr fiasco when their scientists mistook Saturn for our moon last week.Cheers
mhg

BFF“The gallop of your heart
The worlds were apart
Panic, panic
Every symbol misplaced
Every monkey in space
Panic, panic…” The Stills

“Iran plans to send a live monkey into space in the summer, the country’s top space official said after the launch of the Rassad-1 satellite, state television reported on its website on Thursday. “The Kavoshgar-5 rocket will be launched during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogramme capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometres (74 miles),” said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran’s Space Organisation. In February, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a space capsule designed to carry a live monkey into space, along with four new prototypes of home-built satellites the country hopes to launch before March 2012. At the time, Fazeli touted the launch of a large animal into space as the first step towards sending a man into space, which Tehran says is scheduled for 2020. Iran sent small animals into space — a rat, turtles and worms — aboard its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010…….”

The Iranians are steadily inching their way toward a manned space flight. Last year they sent a gaggle of varmints (rat, turtle, worms) into space. This summer they’ll be sending their and our, and Tarzan’s and Cheeta’s, closest relative. They have promised or threatened, depending on one’s point of view, to send a man at the end of the decade. It is not clear now who they will send, but there are several people who will be out of jobs and available long before 2020. Mr. Ahmadinejad may want to crown his public career with a blast into space. Some mullah or another may want the honor. They may decide to send a team: a civilian and a mullah. They may send a woman, who does not qualify as either a civilian or a mullah. They may send the head of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), or they may send a particularly annoying opposition leader. The possibilities are intriguing.Cheers
mhg